Home computing

What good is a network without computers? What good is a computer
without a network? The peecee revolution has left lots of interesting
hardware out there.

I already have a 2GHz Athlon machine that does the job in a most
unexciting fashion.

Classic Computing

It's a fact that I've been doing computing for a long time. Lately I've decided that
collecting some nice machines wouldn't be a bad idea. But I will start with a list
of machines that I've used --- meaning written code of one variety or another.

Thus far, I've collected a VAX 3100/M38, an SGI Indigo2, an SGI Octane and a Sun Ultra 1. What I
wouldn't do to get an Alto again.

Home networking

I live in an enormous house, which was acquired mainly because it is
beautiful and it was available...
The house is so big and the walls so thick, that wireless just doesn't
cover the house. This is not a theoretical statement but rather a measurement
using a wireless laptop.
I established the following design criteria:

The wireless base must be able to reach the kitchen table and the
porch table (wireless computing in the summer evening is a must)

All floors should have at least one outlet

Switches, not hubs should be used for full bandwidth

Fibre channel looks like too much fun to ignore

The resulting network diagram is shown in the image below:

Note the use of IEEE 488; this is because almost everything in the electronics
lab uses 488. The Iotech 488/D is D for Digital and was OEM'ed to DEC for
use in the VAX. Believe it or leave it, Iotech doesn't have a single manual
for it. Attempts to find the source code of the VMS driver failed. So
I'm on my own, or I'll have to use a PC card. There is a comparable box
for the Sun (488/S).

The network itself was wired by an electrician who hates wires on the outside
of houses, so he pulled it all the way from the basement to the attic.
The cable is Belden Datatwist, obtained from the usual source. The wall
outlets are from Leviton. The wires all meet in the basement, as shown
in the picture below: